Infusionsoft today announced a significant upgrade to its all-in-one sales and marketing software for small businesses, debuting its Spring 2012 release during its annual InfusionCon user conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort.

The release weds CRM, e-commerce, email marketing, and marketing automation features in a lighter, more intuitive format designed to improve the small business marketing and selling process.

Nearly 100 percent of Infusionsoft user companies employ 25 people or less, and this particular segment needs and wants systems that "talk to each other," remarks Richard Tripp, vice president of product management and strategy for Infusionsoft. A goal of the upgrade was to improve a company's ability to capture leads and to systematically nurture even the lukewarm lead into a customer.

"Disjointed systems lead to enormous amounts of manual work, with people spending twenty to thirty hours a week trying to manage multisystem chaos," Tripp adds. "Small business is different. It's not mid-market. It's not enterprise. They're less interested in technologies…they want to grow sales."

The updated version of the software features a brand-new user interface and role-based navigation tools, a visual campaign designer to create marketing campaigns from the ground up, visual lead-scoring to identify leads that are nearing a close before the lead is passed from marketing to sales, and e-commerce enhancements, which include design editing tools and flexible pricing options.

"Our users are in the app for hours a day," points out Rebecca Sprynczynatyk, product marketing manager for Infusionsoft. "Their activities are usually in CRM, marketing or e-commerce. We organized the navigation to fit into those functional areas."

Users have access to a Web analytics report, which enables them to embed tracking code right into their site or blog. Similar to Google Analytics, the tool lets the user see total unique visits and what traffic ultimately contributes to new customer retention. The new software also personalizes the platform for users, giving them the ability to add tools like the drag-and-drop Campaign Builder to a customizable MyNav tool.